Sleep problems are notoriously difficult to resolve but Susan Boyle, who has suffered from chronic insomnia since she was 15, found hypnotherapy helped make her life and her relationship run more smoothly.Insomnia is an issue that is hard for those who haven’t suffered it to understand quite how detrimental to day-to-day living it can be. For Susan, battling a constant feeling of tiredness made it hard to get through the working day and even recreational outings were out of the question, particularly if driving was involved, for fear of accidents.Only being able to sleep in ten minute snatches at a time really affected her health. Lack of sleep impacts on the immune system and made her very susceptible to picking up bugs. Consecutive bouts of insomnia would trigger acute migraines and was likely to have been one of the contributing factors that led to Susan developing the viral condition ME, which causes extreme exhaustion.By the time Susan consulted hypnotherapist Georgios Theodorou she was in a sleep cycle of between 2 to 4 hours of rest followed by a period of wakefulness and only achieving a complete night’s sleep of 6 hours twice a year when lack of sleep finally caught up with her. Susan was taught how to use visualisation to picture herself feeling sleepy so she could bring on the feeling of being sleepy and then actually become sleepy. This was instead of her usual habit of talking to herself in an impatient voice that she couldn’t sleep, making it impossible to wind down and relax. Thankfully, it only took one session for Susan to change her thinking and enjoy a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, Susan soon needed more of Georgios’ help because her boyfriend in the meantime developed his own sleep problem – snoring! Still a very light sleeper, Susan worried this latest discovery might not only affect her relationship, it would set back her new night time regime. The answer lay in a series of exercises to help Susan change her attitude towards the snoring. She began by thinking about the issue and how she felt about it. Her first response was ‘angry’. By saying it aloud she was then able to use affirmation to reduce her initial reaction to ‘frustration’ and then to ‘feeling tired’ and finally down to ‘relaxed’. Slowly she was able to convince her mind that the noise was no longer invasive but it was soothing and even something she liked to hear.She said with relief: “I no longer feel as though I want to smother him in his sleep! I am delighted that by using these combined hypnotherapy techniques; I am beginning to get my life back.”Susan has come on leaps and bounds since undergoing just two sessions of hypnotherapy and believes it holds the answers for many others dealing with this debilitating problem.To find out more about dealing with insomnia and other sleep issues, contact Georgios Theodorou at Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic on 0121 241 8227.

In a world first, a singer has undergone surgery while fully awake to avoid damage being done to her vocal chords.For pain relief the singer was put into a hypnotic trance and sang throughout the operation to have a tumour removed from her throat.The doctor who performed the procedure said the pain would have been intolerable without hypnosis and if the patient had not been awake and singing he could not have been sure her voice would remain intact afterwards. During the operation, the singer pictured herself far away from the Paris hospital in her homeland of Senegal .

Last month Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic had the pleasure of attending a new course concerning a cutting edge therapy technique called Havening*, a tried and tested method developed by Dr Ronald Ruden and Dr Steve Ruden. During a seminar conducted by Dr Ronald Ruden and Dr Steve Rudenand the well-known hypnotherapist Paul McKenna, there was a demonstration of the effectiveness of Havening. A former bomb disposal expert was introduced as a subject who was suffering from deep trauma arising from the nature of his work. His trauma had been brought on by hearing a child screaming as this was something he had faced during his work. Since leaving the army the sound of a distressed child had continued to be a trigger for him.After an hour of undergoing the Havening technique, the ex-soldier experienced a massive improvement in his condition. To put this to the test a young girl came into the room and the subject was able to remain indifferent to her screams.Georgios Theodorou at BHC commented: “We started using this technique with our clients and we saw the immediate impact and the power of it. Our message to other people dealing with past trauma is that there is no need to suffer unnecessarily or consider undergoing lengthy periods of therapy. With these new tools and techniques we can help you move on and live a happy life within a few sessions.”*The Havening Techniques™ is a method, which is designed to change the brain to de-traumatize the memory and permanently remove its negative effects from both our psyche and body. As part of its protocol The Havening Techniques™ uses the sensory input of human touch as a therapeutic tool which we have identified as Havening Touch®. The Havening Techniques™ are powerful tools that can be used to treat the consequences of encoded traumatic or stressful memories. Depending on the nature of the encoded trauma it can be done with guidance by a certified Havening Techniques™ practitioner or by oneself.